


through the years

by aelins



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, chaolaena needs to reunite!, mildly anti rowaelin, they meet at nehemia's grave every year for a while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21813058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelins/pseuds/aelins
Summary: “You’ll figure it out. And when you do…When you do, I want you to remember it wouldn’t have made any difference to me. It’s never made any difference to me when it came to you. I’d still pick you. I’ll always pick you.”
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Chaol Westfall, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	through the years

**Author's Note:**

> Some parts of this made me emOTIONAL

It is dusk, in a cemetery, the cemetery she visits every year on this day. 

His there, as he always is, in the shadows waiting for her to say something. 

This is their cosmic dance, they do not speak any longer, simply meet eye to eye on this day, every year. 

She is eighteen and freshly married to Rowan when she first shows up, he tastes the bitterness of her choice in his mouth like blood. But he’s made choices too, choices that are soaked in blood and make him recoil from the light of day. 

Yrene should be here, Chaol’s wife, the  _ mother to his child _ should be here, and yet the thought of Yrene seeing him like this… no. It’s not to be borne. 

She puts the flowers down on Nhemia’s grave and Chaol wonders if this will be the last time he sees her. 

It begins to snow, and a chill goes through him. 

She says nothing. 

*~*~*~* 

The next year it is snowing an all-out blizzard, and Yrene had begged him to stay home. She knew he went to a friend’s grave every year and that the Queen of Terrasen was there. He’d told her that much. 

The wind is whipping them both, despite both their strength. 

And he goes to her then, hoping to convince her to get out of the storm. She stiffens in his arms, and he feels the wrongness in her posture. 

“Sorry,” He says, trying to put some distance between them. 

She shrugs, and she looks like a full-fledged goddess with her hair swirling around her, her lips pressed into a grim line. 

For the life of him, he hopes she knows that he’d always pick her too. 

She is nineteen and haggard from war and disaster, from losing her powers and tripping over the stumbling blocks of court life. 

“Let me take you somewhere,” and yet as the words fall off his tongue, they taste even more bitter than her decision to marry a man he’d never liked. 

She sighs, the howling wind nearly muffling the sound, “I’ve missed you, Chaol, but Rowan is just down the street.” 

Chaol steps back as if she’d hit him. This was  _ their _ special place. “Right.” He turns on his heel and leaves, not giving her a second glance. 

*~*~* 

The year Rowan gets her pregnant she actually has to fight with him to let her go see her dead friend’s grave. Rowan loves her and wants her to be happy but the pregnancy had been hard on them both. 

So she makes her stop quick, and he’s there, waiting in the shadows. 

Her belly isn’t huge, but it shows, and she places a protective hand on it as he presses a kiss to her head. 

“You look radiant.” He says warmly, but his smile doesn’t reach his eyes. 

“You’re jealous.” She says, a practiced familiarity to her voice. 

“I’m married and have a child of my own.” But he kicks a loose rock and she can see his jaw tick. 

“Do you even love her?” Aelin asks, warily. 

He looks up sharply, “With my whole life.” 

Aelin nods and then puts her hood up, and disappears into the mist. 

*~*~* 

The next year Chaol notices that her shoulders are set in a hard line, her body too thin for a woman who’d had a baby only four months prior. 

He doesn’t speak to her, because Yrene has been sleeping in the guest bedroom and he’d know that look anywhere on Aelin. 

This time he goes to her, holds her in the circle of his arms. 

“How long?” He asks. 

“My whole pregnancy.” Aelin says and there’s a ruthless edge to her voice. 

“Did you run him through for it?” Chaol asks. 

“I don’t know, did you run Yrene through for fucking Elide?” He has never heard such an edge in her voice. 

“So you still love him?” Chaol asked, and knew when she turns in his arms, she looks at him through her long lashes and his cock responds to her, much to his chagrin, for the first time in three long years. 

“Do you remember... the day you sent me away to Wendyln?” 

“Like it was yesterday.” Chaol says gruffly. 

“It still doesn’t matter to me,” She stepped in closer to his body and whispered in his ear, the ghost of her warm breath sliding over his skin, “ it’s never made any difference, no matter how many miles, no matter how many times we’ve done foolish things to each other, I have loved you since the day I saw you in Endovier.” 

He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, “You are all under the sky I do love, Aelin Galathynius.” 

She pressed her head to his chest. Three years, it had taken them three years, and two children between them to come to their senses. 

“Rowan and I divorced last month.” She said, inhaling the wood smoke smell of him. 

“Yrene and I are… working on moving her out of the house.” 

Aelin looked up at him, “I can wait, I don’t want you to cheat on her for my sake.” 

Chaol nodded, he didn’t want their first time together in so long to be based on lies. “I’ll be in touch,” he said and dropped a kiss to her hair. 

*~*~* 

It was a hot summer day in Adarlan when they moved into the little flat. Aelin had been offered a place at the Palace, but that was too close to Dorian and Manon. She wanted someplace out of the way, someplace where she didn’t have to be queen, she could just be Aelin. 

Manon was currently arranging Aelin’s extremely vast book collection and attempting to play with the baby at the same time. Aelin had taken her and Rowan’s son with her, and Chaol had agreed to help raise her as if she was his own. 

“Stop making googley eyes at Chaol.” Dorian said as he levitated the couch into the living room. 

Chaol was leaning heavily on a cane, a happy smile on his face. 

Aelin couldn’t get enough of him. 

Manon rolled her eyes, and just like that, the pieces of Aelin and Chaol’s life seemed to fall into place effortlessly. 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on [tumblr?](https://feyesand.tumblr.com) or [the bird app](https://www.twitter.com/sanktaleks)


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